In many sports activities and work activities, a glove or other hand covering is worn on one hand or on each hand of a user to protect the user's hand(s) and/or to provide a firmer grip or purchase of the hand against a handle that is gripped by the hand. The handle to be gripped may be that of a golf club, of a baseball or cricket bat, of a racquet for tennis, squash or badminton, or work apparatus, such as a hammer, hatchet or saw, or even of a driver's wheel for an automotive or motorcycle vehicle.
Several workers in this field have disclosed gloves or other single-surface interfaces to protect the hand or to provide a more certain grip of a hand or similar item against another surface, in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,967, issued to Millman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,039, issued to Yerke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,150, issued to Fisher, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,053,676 and 4,316,926, issued to Kaminstein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,895, issued to Steel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,013, issued to Hasslinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,139, issued to Goldin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,713, issued to Cavicchioli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,537, issued to Krupper, U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,991, issued to McDuff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,499, issued to Pirie, U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,428, issued to Bartkowicz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,340, issued to Matsumura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,943, issued to Stoffo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,343, issued to Da Silva, U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,172, issued to Gabriele, U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,484, issued to Drescher et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,270, issued to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,993, issued to Hiraoka, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,248, issued to Widdemer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,885, issued to Heo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,096, issued to Aurora, U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,092, issued to Theken, U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,934, issued to Willett, U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,931, issued to Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,738, issued to Barbeau et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,795, issued to Landis et al.
These patents disclose provision of one surface, usually as part of a glove or other hand covering, that provides a grip or purchase that is either non-slip or that has a surer grip. If the surface of the handle or other item that is to be gripped by the glove is smooth, slippery or very moist, the non-slip grip may be of little value, because the non-slip grip surface has no opportunity to make firm contact with the other surface. What is needed is an interface system that is optimized for a group of sports-related or work-related activities and that can be changed, if necessary, when the user moves from one activity to another.